Why this word is great
TEKNONYM — [Noun] A name for an adult derived from that of a child, especially that of the eldest child. From the Greek tecno- ("child") + -onym ("name"). Unlike "patronym" (which traces lineage backward to ancestors) or "kunya" (which formalizes parenthood into an honorific), a teknonym is a quiet surrender to the way children rewrite us. It is the village midwife who becomes "Old Mother Anya" only after Anya is born, the fisherman who answers to "Papa Luca" long before his own father’s name fades from use, the way a woman who once had a name of her own is now called "Mama Ji" by the whole market—a life measured not in years but in the echoes of another’s. To be called by your child's name is to be reminded that you, too, were once someone's answer to the question of what comes next.